Lindsey Wilson, Dukes torch Warner

Saturday

LAKELAND — Warner University head football coach Kirk Talley admits he's been a pretty conservative coach over his 20-plus years coaching college football.

So, with his team in the middle of a first-quarter dogfight with No. 12 Lindsey Wilson, Talley rolled the dice on a trick play with his team down four.

The result wasn't what he or the Royals wanted, a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jeff Jennings off a wide receiver pass, but Talley wasn't about to second-guess himself.

"It's getting toward the end of my career, so I told the guys lets turn the jets on," Talley said.

In the end it was the Blue Raiders who turned on the jets, scoring four unanswered touchdowns, and rolling to a 73-29 victory over the Royals at Viking Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

For the first six minutes, Warner put a scare into Lindsey Wilson.

After marching to an opening 34-yard field goal by Santiago Tovar, Warner answered a 60-yard Cameron Dukes to Jaylen Boyd touchown, with a big play of its own.

Dylan Blair found Jeff Jennings for a 56-yard touchdown that Jennings at first bobbled as he cut across the middle of the field toward the Royals sideline. He finally gained possession and beat the defenders to the edge and a 10-7 Royals lead.

That was the last time Warner led as Dukes began lighting up the Royals defense to the tune of 301 first-half yards and five touchdowns. Three of them came in the first quarter, as well as two Blue Raiders defensive touchdowns that gave the visitors a 35-10 lead just 15 minutes into the game.

Dukes finished with seven passing touchdowns, doubling his season total, and 341 yards. He didn't play the majority of the second half and finished 19-for-23 with one interception for Lindsey Wilson (4-0). Dukes' seven touchdowns set an all-time individual game record for the Blue Raiders, surpassing the six scores that Dylan Beasley threw against Georgetown College in 2016.

While Warner (0-3) did give up the most points in the history of the program, surpassing Jacksonville University's 69 points during the Royals' first season in 2013, Talley did find some positives to take away from the defeat.

"We have a young team," Talley said. "I was proud of them, the way they fought. For us it's always going to be about the heart first. That's what it's got to be about. When the score's like that, a lot of times a team will just give up. We never did that today."

Dylan Blair led the Royals offense with 228 yards and four total touchdowns.

His touchdowns went to three different Royals receivers as, Jennings, Theodore Hammonds and Jordan Wojciekowski all hauled in scoring passes. Blair also ran one in from 3 yards out.

Javon Wilson had his second-consecutive 100-yard rushing game, tallying 112 yards on 18 carries despite missing a good chunk of the first half with an injury.

Warner will play one more non-conference game at Kentucky Christian next Saturday before opening up the Mid-South Conference Sun Division schedule against Keiser at Viking Stadium.